Only half a decade ago, racism was a cultural familiarity. Segregation was the common practice. Racism today is not overt, as was then, but it still exists. 

It exists in the blatant defiance shown in the Jena Six incident and even in the hushed conversations when people are afraid of being politically incorrect. Both ends of the spectrums exist.

The Ku Klux Klan, Masons, and other infamous organizations have lived among us for generations. They walk among us, living, breathing, and eating everyday, yet they aren't one of us. 

One such organization has been with us for many years. Stemming from the ultra conservative wing is the Council of Conservative Citizens. They are strikingly similar to the KKK for its conservative views.

The CCC clearly states on their Web page:

"We believe in the traditional family as the basic unit of human society and morality, and we oppose all efforts by the state and other powers to weaken the structure of the American family through toleration of sexual licentiousness, homosexuality and other perversions, mixture of the races, pornography in all forms, and subversion of the authority of parents." 

I find it disheartening to find humanity still narrow-minded. As Friedrich Nietzsche said, insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule. 

This is not the rule for every association, but when societies do form, their power to be subversive increases. There is no fear in groups; there is fear in what they can do with their control. When people come together, they can move nations with their philanthropic activities, and they can crumble nations with their hatred. 

Is the CCC the modern version of the KKK, dressed in new robes?  If you are like me, you never heard of the CCC. 

A friend of mine, in a class studying terrorism, stumbled upon the CCC's Web page in her search on the Emmett Till case. Near Money, Mississippi in 1955, Till was brutally murdered for talking to the white woman owner of a local grocery store. This was just one case that spurred the civil rights movement. 

A more recent event is Jena Six. The sickening extent to which groups will go to defend their "principles" is a terrifying thought. Racial tension is only one aspect of what groups can misconstrue. 

The new wave is sexuality. Unfortunately, the KKK is still among us today, but tomorrow may bring a new era of organization - anti-homosexuality organizations. 

How does all this hit home with UT students? We are the next generation. We are the people that form the next era of organizations. Societies exist even within our college system. 

Sororities and fraternities create a brotherhood, which are not bad in the same sense as the KKK, but those that practice hazing are no better. 

I challenge you to be an individual. Don't be afraid to broach the topic. It is something that cannot be left in the closet anymore. It is time to let our skeletons step out of the inky depths of our individual closets.